The IRAIT project is aimed at preparing the first permanent observatory, a 80 cm class telescope, at Dome C, a site located at 3200 height on the Antarctic plateau. To exploit the high-quality and low-sky-background conditions offered by the site in spectral regions beyond 20 μm, IRAIT telescope will be equipped at its Nasmyth focus by a dual feed infrared camera: a near/medium infrared camera (AMICA) designed to be operated by a Si:As detector array sensitivity in the range 5-28 μm, and a In:Sb detector array covering the shorter spectral range down to J band. AMICA is a joint effort of several Italian institutions (OAMI, OATO, OAPD) led by the Teramo Observatory, belonging to Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF). The importance of this instrument is twofold: AMICA is expected to provide extensive surveys of the southern sky in K,L,M,N and Q bands, and to give a direct estimate of the observational quality of this highly promising site. To face the prohibitive Antarctic environment, the telescope should be fully robotic and operations for the telescope and its instrumentation remotely controlled. Careful consideration is to be devoted to the design and integration of the control system, besides the accurate insulation for all the equipment. In the present paper we will provide an overview of the AMICA camera focused on the detectors control electronics, the solutions adopted to reduce the impact with a severe environment and the present status of the project.

The Antarctic Plateau offers unique opportunities for ground-based Infrared Astronomy. AMICA (Antarctic Multiband Infrared CAmera) is an instrument designed to perform astronomical imaging from Dome-C in the near- (1 - 5 μm) and mid- (5 - 27 μm) infrared wavelength regions. The camera consists of two channels, equipped with a Raytheon InSb 256 array detector and a DRS MF-128 Si:As IBC array detector, cryocooled at 35 and 7 K respectively. Cryogenic devices will move a filter wheel and a sliding mirror, used to feed alternatively the two detectors. Fast control and readout, synchronized with the chopping secondary mirror of the telescope, will be required because of the large background expected at these wavelengths, especially beyond 10 μm. An environmental control system is needed to ensure the correct start-up, shut-down and housekeeping of the camera. The main technical challenge is represented by the extreme environmental conditions of Dome C (T about -90 °C, p around 640 mbar) and the need for a complete automatization of the overall system. AMICA will be mounted at the Nasmyth focus of the 80 cm IRAIT telescope and will perform survey-mode automatic observations of selected regions of the Southern sky. The first goal will be a direct estimate of the observational quality of this new highly promising site for Infrared Astronomy. In addition, IRAIT, equipped with AMICA, is expected to provide a significant improvement in the knowledge of fundamental astrophysical processes, such as the late stages of stellar evolution (especially AGB and post-AGB stars) and the star formation.

Thanks to exceptional coldness, low sky brightness and low content of water vapour of the above atmosphere Dome C,
one of the three highest peaks of the large Antarctic plateau, is likely to be the best site on Earth for thermal infrared
observations (2.3-300 μm) as well as for the far infrared range (30 μm-1mm). IRAIT (International Robotic Antarctic
Infrared Telescope) will be the first European Infrared telescope operating at Dome C. It will be delivered to Antarctica
at the end of 2006, will reach Dome C at the end of 2007 and the first winter-over operation will start in spring 2008.
IRAIT will offer a unique opportunity for astronomers to test and verify the astronomical quality of the site and it will be
a useful test-instrument for a new generation of Antarctic telescopes and focal plane instrumentations. We give here a
general overview of the project and of the logistics and transportation options adopted to facilitate the installation of
IRAIT at Dome C. We summarize the results of the electrical, electronics and networking tests and of the sky
polarization measurements carried out at Dome C during the 2005-2006 summer-campaign. We also present the 25 cm
optical telescope (small-IRAIT project) that will installed at Dome C during the Antarctic summer 2006-2007 and that
will start observations during the 2007 Antarctic winter when a member of the IRAIT collaboration will join the Italian-French Dome C winter-over team.

The Antarctica Plateau has recently turned out to be the best place on the Earth to perform astronomical infrared observations in the 2-20 um atmospheric windows and beyond, thanks to the extremely low sky background emission, the excellent atmospheric transparency and stability, the virtual absence of winds and the possibility of passively cooling the telescope and its focal plane instruments down to very low temperatures. Dome C, a site jointly exploited by Italian and French scientific teams in the framework of the Concordia project, lays on the Antarctica Plateau at an altitude of 3200m and presents exceptionally cold and dry climatic conditions.
In this paper we shall describe the scientific motivations and the technical details of the infrared telescope IRAIT that we plan to put at Dome C starting from in 2005-2006. The IRAIT telescope is an alt-azimuth f/20 reflector, with a 0.8m parabolic primary mirror and a wobbling secondary mirror suitable for the specific techniques of IR observations. It will be equipped with a Near/Mid IR-camera built in Italy .

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